Somalia’s extremist Islam fighters have banned samosas after ruling that the popular snacks are too ‘Western’. The al Shabaab group last week used vehicles mounted with loudspeakers to announce the bizarre ruling across regions of the war-torn country it controls. The extremist group, with links to al Qaeda in Somalia, has offered no official explanation for the ban, the Daily Mail has reported.

The samosa is said to have upset militant Islamists due to a supposed resemblance to the Christian trinity, the paper said.

The unexpected move means Somalis would now be punished if caught cooking, buying or eating samosas, known locally as sambusas.